9 Super ideas on how to empower your domestic worker or nanny

There are approximately one million, mainly African women, who are domestic workers and nannies in South Africa. According to CASE (Community Agency for Social Enquire), in the last decade very little progress has been made in reducing poverty. To date the recession has not helped this progress.

As the employer of a domestic worker or nanny in your home, you have the opportunity to make a difference. Here are some wonderful empowerment ideas you can offer your domestic worker or her child.

Give your nanny the confidence she needs to care for and stimulate your child in a safe environment. Training your domestic worker to become a nanny is upgrading her job status and salary from a domestic to a child carer, giving her more responsibility and a better income.
Price range: R1900 – R2000 Register here

Give your nanny the confidence to deal with home emergencies or any crisis that may occur while your children are in her care. Providing her with lifesaving skills not only enables her to help your family, but she is then in a position to provide assistance to her own family and community with her First Aid and CPR skills
Price range: R600 – R1200 Register here

3. Driving lessons for domestic nannies

Teach your nanny to drive. Save time on grocery shopping and lifting children to and from extra mural activities and any other little errands for the home. Teaching your nanny to drive can be a three (3) to six (6) month process that involves the nanny obtaining her learners licence, taking driving lessons and completing a driving licence test.

4. Cooking classes for domestic nannies

Teach your nanny to cook a nutritious, home cooked meal. By teaching your nanny how to cook a variety of meals, you can ensure your family is getting fresh, nutritious food. Not just the quick readymade meals available from our local supermarkets. Having meal times already prepared or even just prepped, will give you quality time with your children in the afternoon and evening.
Price range: R2200 – R2500 Enquire here

5. Swimming classes for domestic nannies

Teach your nanny how to swim. If you have a pool and your children are allowed to swim, it is vital that the adult present, can swim, in case of an emergency. This is a great life skill which will give your domestic worker or child carer a wonderful sense of achievement. Price range (Approximately R1300 for 8 lessons) Enquire here

6. Housekeeping course for domestic workers and nannies

Up skill your char from a domestic worker to a super-efficient housekeeper. If your nanny shows initiative and pride in her work, offer her the skills she needs to become your housekeeper. An efficient housekeeper can clean the home, she knows how to delegate her time according to her tasks, and she has the ability to plan head and can manage any maintenance issues and workers in your house.
Price range: (R800 – R2000) Enquire here

7. School education for your domestic nanny’s child.

Help your nanny’s child get a good education. This is the most powerful way to make a difference to your domestic worker and enable her family to move into a better social class and have higher earning potential. Many families who can afford to pay will send their nanny’s child to a local school in the suburb where they live.

8. Retirement planning for your domestic nanny

Provide your nanny with a pension fund. Give your nanny that peace of mind to know that she will have some financial stability later on in her golden years. Many loyal domestic workers mostly retire without any pension of provident funds savings for their old age – making them financially dependent on the state pension, which is currently R1600 (2017) per month. Most domestic workers are prepared to contribute if their employers are willing to meet them halfway. By taking the financial pressure of the next generation, will also give her children a better chance to further themselves.Old Mutual does offer pension funds for domestic workers.

9. Skills development programmes for your nanny’s child

School leavers especially young men can study and train through the Military Skills Development System (MSDS). This is a wonderful opportunity for school leavers whose mothers (domestic nannies and chars) do not have the funds to send them on for a tertiary education at technikons or universities.
If these young adults have a grade 12 qualification, they can join this programme under the SANDF. The aim of this new training is not to provide the youth of the country with only military skills, but rather to teach them basic life skills that are required in a work environment. The military environment is just used as a platform to instil discipline, routine and work ethic. The new recruits will undergo various training aimed to providing specialists to the SANDF such as engineers, pilots, doctors, dentists and naval combat officers. The recruits that do leave can apply some of the skills they learn in the Defence Force to their private sector jobs as well.

For more information on the above courses and skill programmes, please contact Super Nannies at info@supernannies.co.za

Laurie Ann owner and manager of Super Nannies passionately believes that if you are an employer in a position to help and have the funds to make a difference, help your domestic worker or her child! By assisting her in breaking that chain of poverty that cripples her family, you can elevate her into a better earning bracket by giving her the opportunity to succeed. Imagine what a difference it could make to our new South Africa!

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